


A Right Direction

by Vorvayne



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-22
Updated: 2013-08-22
Packaged: 2017-12-24 07:43:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/937357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorvayne/pseuds/Vorvayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yumichika isn't having sex with Ikkaku. He's not dating Renji, either. </p><p>No power on earth will get him to admit that he's in love with Ikkaku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Right Direction

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my lovely Ze-Rofruits <3\. It didn't turn out exactly as planned, but I hope you enjoy anyway :)
> 
> Thank you to Lucymonster for giving this a look over before I posted. How I accomplished anything without her is a complete mystery to me.

It’s beginning to get annoying, he thinks, when Renji slaps his cup haphazardly on the table and says, “Wait, you _aren’t_ fucking?”

“No,” Yumichika says, taking a sip out of his bowl and trying not to twitch.

Renji looks at them both dumbly. He’s the most inebriated one at the table; he hasn’t been at the eleventh long. Yumichika reckons he’s a keeper, though – you need to be pretty tough to crawl your way out of the 78th, and there’s that story going round that he falls asleep while being tattooed. Yumichika would quite like to see all of his tattoos, come to think of it.

“Why?” Renji says, eventually.

Yumichika lets Ikkaku field this one. “Cause it’s a dumb idea,” Ikkaku says. “What if we fell out? Not worth it.” Ikkaku hits Yumichika on the shoulder, and Yumichika offers a smile. He hadn’t known that was the reason. They’ve had sex before; only once, back when Yumichika was still a high-class rent boy. Ikkaku and Zaraki are the only people in all of the Seireitei who know, and Yumichika supposed that was the reason. Or maybe because Ikkaku tends to do one night stands and casual hookup buddies, and it would be weird to fuck someone he was friends with.

It’s almost a relief, that those aren’t the reasons.

So he takes Renji home and fucks him senseless, and he doesn’t feel too guilty when _Ikkaku_ slips out, because everyone with eyes knows that Renji is hoplessly gone for Kuchiki-taichou. He keeps expecting Renji to take over and flip him onto his stomach, but it doesn’t happen; Renji puts one supportive hand on the small of Yumichika’s back and cups Yumichika’s jaw with the other, and drops kisses everywhere he can reach. It’s probably been too long since he had sex, Yumichika thinks, that all this is surprising.

He likes it, and he likes that Renji makes tea for them both in the morning and doesn’t make any assumptions, but offers a hand on Yumichika’s shoulder and a warm smile.

 

 

It keeps happening until they sortof become a Thing, and even have sex while sober occasionally. Yumichika isn’t sure how he feels about this, given that they’re both hung up on other men, but it’s better than only one of them being hung up on somebody else. It’s good, even if one time Renji drank much more than he usually did and fell asleep in Yumichika’s bed before any sex could be had. Even if he made the pillow damp and salty, and murmured “Kuchiki-sama,” hoarsely when Yumichika climbed in beside him. God knows, Yumichika has done worse – has ignored Renji all evening because Ikkaku’s being an affectionate drunk tonight, has spent a few days unable to tolerate the touch of anyone at all because some asshole from the sixth called him _whore_.

He’s heading out from the cafeteria to find somewhere private to practise with Ruri’iro Kujaku when he bumps into Zaraki, without Yachiru on his shoulder for once. “Oi, Yumichika, you seen Abarai anywhere?”

Yumichika frowns. “No. Why would I know where he is?”

Zaraki shrugs. “You’ve been attached at the hip recently.” He starts to head off, then stops and says over his shoulder, “You see him, tell him he’s the new 6th seat.”

 

Which is how Yumichika ends up being the one telling Renji about his promotion, and also the one organising the party, because no one else will do a decent job of the decorations. His decorations are stunning, of course, though most of the louts at the eleventh don’t notice. What they do notice is how, after Renji pops the cork out of what Zaraki calls “fancy shit”, Renji slings an arm round Yumichika’s waist and pulls him in for a very messy, very public kiss.

Afterwards, there’s something in Renji’s expression that he hasn’t seen before – like Renji’s really looking at _him_ , somehow. It’s not one he’s used to from anyone but Ikkaku, and it looks good on Renji. Well, most things look good on Renji. So instead of getting annoyed at Renji for making him look undignified in public, he allows the arm round his waist to stay, and runs his fingers through Renji’s hair to neaten it.

It’s not long before everyone who is still upright and capable of walking is stumbling towards a tattoo parlour just outside the Seireitei to get Renji some celebratory tattoos. Yumichika’s idea again; there’s even been a pot where people can chuck in spare change to help pay for it. Renji looks ecstatic. Yumichika hangs back and walks alongside Ikkaku.

Ikkaku scratches the back of his neck. “You really like him, don’t you?”

The only thing he can say is “Yes,” because it’s true, he does like Renji, and Renji likes him, and if Renji somehow got Kuchiki-taichou to look at him twice, Yumichika would kick him in the appropriate direction and tell him not to come back until he was covered in hickeys.

“Eh, well. It’s good to see you happy,” Ikkaku says, draining a mostly-finished bottle of beer. Yumichika is sure he must be imagining the sadness there.

He sleeps in his own bed that night, alone, and remembers when he and Ikkaku were so poor that they’d sleep on the floor of some abandoned house in the Rukongai, tucked together against the cold.

 

 

“ – And since you’re dating Renji – ”  
  
“I’m not dating Renji,” Yumichika interrupts.

Ikkaku throws his hands up. “You’ve been dating Renji for _years_. When are you going to throw the poor guy a bone and admit it?”  
  
“Never,” says Yumichika, examining his nails to avoid meeting Ikkaku’s eyes. “Because we aren’t dating.”

“Fucking, then. Repeatedly, and over a long time, with someone you like a lot who sometimes kisses you in public when you let him. Jeez.” Ikkaku sighs. “I figured I should tell you, there’s rumours that Renji might be up for a lieutenancy soon.”

Yumichika blinks. Renji deserves it, of course, and he doesn’t have the ties to the eleventh that Yumichika and Ikkaku do. “I see,” he says.

“Looks like he’s up for the sixth,” Ikkaku continues.

Yumichika nods. The sixth, under Kuchiki-taichou. “Good for him.” It’s where he’s meant to be, of course, the way Yumichika will always be staying here with Ikkaku, nomatter what else happens. Maybe Kuchiki-taichou will look at him twice, and Yumichika will...

He has no idea.

 

 

Renji goes out with Kira and Hinamori and Hisagi that evening, and Yumichika finds himself getting uncharacteristically drunk with the other seated officers of the eleventh. He’s slurring a bit and he knows it, and his eyes are going to be _bloodshot_ tomorrow, but he keeps picking up his bowl of sake.

Ikkaku walks them both home, stumbling but less than Yumichika, who struggles, and sends them both careening into a wall. His head smacks against the wall, and Ikkaku is mostly on top of him, staying upright by the force of his hands on Yumichika’s shoulders. “I have to know,” Yumichika thinks, says aloud, and pushes himself  forward to land on Ikkaku’s lips. A noise of protest dies there, and he can feel Ikkaku ‘s tense muscles softening where they’re touching.   
  
Ikkaku pulls back. “What’re you doing? I ain’t Renji!”

“I know,” says Yumichika. “I know.”  He kisses Ikkaku again, hears his breathing hitch, and feels his pulse race. Ikkaku responds, curling his fist into Yumichika’s shihakusho, then using it to push Yumichika away with a growl this time. But Yumichika knows what he needs to know, now, and he allows Ikkaku to pile him into bed. He falls asleep to the sound of Ikkaku's fading footsteps, and in the morning, there's a full glass of water within reach on his nightstand, an next to it his feathers that he doesn't remember removing.

 

 

Renji sits awkwardly down next to Yumichika and Ikkaku and pours himself some tea, all his movements awkward. “I’ve, uh, been assigned to the sixth,” he says. “As a lieutenant.”

Ikkaku grunts his acknowledgement. “You think maybe it’s time you spoke to Rukia again, then?”

Yumichika rolls his eyes. “It’s not that Kuchiki he’s obsessed with. It’s the pretty one.”

“Oi!” Renji says. “Rukia’s pretty! But – I suppose Byakuya is, too,” he mumbles.

Ikkaku’s mouth is twisted in a smirk. “You gonna chase that?”

Renji snorts. “I do value my neck, you know.” A pause. “I’ll – miss you guys.”

Ikkaku smacks him on the back of the head.

  
  


“You didn’t mean that, did you? Because you’re an idiot if you don’t at least try for Kuchiki senior,” Yumichika points out to Renji, when they’re on their own, and though they’re just walking home, it feels different. “He looks the type, and besides, you’ll just drive yourself crazy if you don’t.”

Renji looks at him, and it’s a long look, serious and assessing. “You’re one to talk. Have you ever gone after Ikkaku?” Whatever reply he’d had dies on his lips. They’ve stopped walking. “You know he’d – I dunno, play a prank on Unohana for you, right?”

“I hope he doesn’t,” Yumichika says. “She’s so beautiful, but so terrifying. He wouldn’t survive.”

Renji leans down and kisses him once, briefly. The kiss feels like _goodbye_.

No, he thinks, as Renji walks away and throws a grin over his shoulder, one hand settled comfortably on Zabimaru. It feels like a _blessing_.

  
  


He sits next to Ikkaku under the old oak outside the eleventh, sharing a jug of sake. Ikkaku’s having most of it, really, but then he’s been training all day.

“So I broke up with Renji,” he says, conversationally, then frowns. “Or he broke up with me. I’m not quite certain.” Perhaps he ought to be offended – but It’s difficult to be offended, really, when they’re parting as friends, both older and wiser and heading in the correct direction this time.

“Thought you kept insisting you weren’t dating in the first place?” Ikkaku throws him a confused look, but there’s a bit of teasing there as well.

Yumichika sighs. “No point in that now, really.”

Ikkaku looks round at him properly, and there’s an expression of concern there suddenly, like Ikkaku isn’t sure if he should offer a shoulder and both arms. He settles with one palm on Yumichika’s closest shoulder. “Hey, it’s all right if you’re cut up about it. It’s been a long time.”

“I – really. It’s okay.” He thinks about brushing Ikkaku’s hand away, but there’s no point in denying himself. He leans into it instead. “He’s not gonna be able to take his eyes off Kuchiki-taichou now he’s at the sixth.”

Ikkaku sighs and seems to come to some decision. He throws his arm around Yumichika’s shoulders. “I’ve never understood…you and Renji. I mean he seemed to really like you, but you’d always insist you weren’t dating, and tease him about liking that Kuchiki twat.” Renji, more charitably than Yumichika deserved, had never once teased him about Ikkaku. “An – it was hard to watch, yanno?”

Yumichika is as sure as he’s ever going to be. Ikkaku is so close, and he doesn’t know why he’s hesitating. After all this time, it seems he’s still afraid to break this easy friendship. But Renji was grinning as he walked over to the sixth, fearless as always, and he has to deal with a whole new squad and a captain with a reputation for being heartless. So Yumichika takes a breath, and says, “Why?”

Ikkaku drops his arm, which is not what Yumichika wanted at _all_ , and sighs. “Ah, fuck, Yumichika, that ain’t fair. It’s not like you don’t know.”

There’s no breath at all in Yumichika’s lungs, so when he tries to speak it comes out in a whisper. “Tell me anyway.”

Yumichika has never seen Ikkaku look afraid before, not even once, so when Ikkaku scratches the back of his neck and says “Uh– ”, he doesn’t even let him mumble his way to the end: he just launches himself onto Ikkaku’s lap and kisses him soundly. It occurs to him that he could have reached out and taken this anytime he likes, but instead he waited for – an invitation, or something. Ikkaku to say that he’s beautiful and he doesn’t think of him as a whore anymore and if they fuck it won’t ruin everything, maybe. But Ikkaku isn’t going to say something dumb like that, and Yumichika thinks that, if he wants something done, it’s best to just do it himself.

He pulls back for long enough to say, “Don’t you dare get all weird on me after this,” then resumes kissing Ikkaku thoroughly.

Ikkaku seems determined to talk, though. “Don’t do this to me, Yumichika. It was hard enough the last time,” he manages.   
  
_Last time? Oh…the drunken kiss_. Yumichika feels a growl work its way out of his throat. “Shut up. Just shut up. I’m not drunk this time, and anyway, it’s you I wanted the whole time, moron.”

There are no further protests. Ikkaku takes him roughly and his hands are callused and grab hard, and Yumichika is flipped over onto his stomach. They’re not even naked, but Ikkaku bites his neck and wraps one strong arm tightly around Yumichika’s ribcage and growls in his ear, and that makes it all right.

When they make it back to Yumichika’s room, this time, Ikkaku doesn’t even try to leave.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I meddle at vorvayne.tumblr.com, and Ze-Rofruits' original request for Ikkaku/Yumichika fic&art can be found here: http://www.deviantart.com/journal/Someone-draw-write-me-some-IkkaYumi-394407670


End file.
